Pesticide in apple samples on the market of Republic of Serbia 2004-2007

Abstract

The residues of pesticides in fruit are the consequence of their direct application in the agricultural production. In order to comprehend in what condition the pesticide residues in fruit are and how hazardous they are to human health, it is essential to carry out a long-lasting monitoring of their residue content and to create a data base and a base of contaminant contents. The fruit consumption nowadays is increasing in the world, almost 170 kg/person/year. Since the pesticides are widely used for fruit protection at present, their excessive use can jeopardize human health so the content of their residues must be checked on. Our study comprised the determination of pesticide residue content in 108 samples of apples from the market of the Republic of Serbia taken during 2004-2007 (27 samples were analyzed in 2004, 55 samples in 2005, 30 samples in 2006 and 13 samples in 2007). The pesticide residues were determined by gas chromatography with NPD, ECD and GLC - MS. The samples were tested for the content of 75 pesticides with LOD of 0.001 to 0.005 mg/kg which were lower than MRLs according to the EU standards. The relative standard deviation was lower than 19% for all the tested compounds. In the apple samples taken during 2004, the percentage of the samples positive to the pesticide residue content was 51.85% and the most frequent contaminants were £ HCH (50% of positive samples) and endosulfan (28.57%) whereas the content of all the other pesticide residues was below the EU MRLs. In the analyzed samples, taken during 2005, out of 70.91% samples in which the pesticide residues were detected, endosulfan was present in 41.03%, captan in 35.9%, chlorpyrifos in 20.51% and parathion in 17.95% (with 71.43% residue over the EU MRLs) samples. The content of the procymidone residue was detected in two samples as well as the content of lambda-cyhalothrin found in one sample was over the EU MRLs. During 2006 thirteen samples of apples were analyzed in which no pesticide residues were detected. Out of 13 samples analyzed in 2007, five contained the pesticide residues below the EU MRLs with the most frequently detected dithiocarbamate (3 samples). The high percentage of samples positive to the pesticide residue content is a warning that in the production conditions a continuous and multi-level monitoring of food safety needs to be a regular practice aiming at the successful prevention of harmful effects of pesticides on the health of people and animals.